When Civilizations Meet: Tali's School Days
by Generatedname
Summary: A less serious side story to my fic 'When Civilizations Meet', this fic details Tali and her fellow Psionic Quarian students' adventures in a Terran Alliance elementary school. This fic has little to no effect on the storyline of When Civilization Meet. WARNING: Contains My Little Chryssalid.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- This is a humorous side story to my XCOM/ME crossover When Civilizations Meet. Read it if you want to know what's going on in here.**

**Chapter 1- Contact: Mindoir Elementary**

* * *

Tali waited nervously as the shuttle touched down at the Mindoir space port. The terran colony was fairly small, which meant that it had a population under 1 billion. The shuttle touched the ground, and the three quarians left. Kal'Reegar and Lia'Vael were both in bubbles, moving out first, with Tali, who due to her genetic modification did not need one, walked out behind them. Kal and Lia were escorted to the terran genetics facility, where they would spend the next few days undergoing genetic modification to compensate for their weakened immune systems. Tali, meanwhile, was escorted to their new residence. Tali said her goodbyes to Kal and Lia, before getting into a Terran skycar, and taking off.

Upon landing, Tali saw the apartment for the first time. To say she was overwhelmed would have been an understatement. Aboard the migrant fleet, this apartment would have had its designer spaced, but here it was just average! The one large bed was replaced by three small ones, and the large window gave an amazing view of the skyline of Mindoir.

"Miss Zorah?" A human asked.

"Yes?" Tali answered.

"I was told to deliver these to you." The human, a female, probably, answered. She placed down three boxes, with their recipients' names clearly written on the side. Then, the human left.

Tali opened hers. There were several smaller boxes inside. One was full of standard school supplies, such as an E-stylus for writing, a personal datapad, and a personal carry bag, styled in a purple pattern of Clan Zorah. It was beautiful.

The second box was metal, with a large 'SPONSORED BY MEGAPOL' sticker on it. Inside, was a pair of human weapons. One was the size of a pistol, with a small grip, and a large forward firing block, as well as a thick, gunmetal gray barrel, with the word 'LAWPISTOL' engraved on it. The second was a shotgun, with the tag 'M22 Eviscerator' attached to the side. Underneath the weapons was a targeting hologram, as well as a note reading:

Dear Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.

It has come to my attention that you have decided to enter into the human education system. Remember, you are expected to bring your own gun, or they will fit you with absolute garbage. I hope these top-of-the-line guns serve you well throughout the combat training courses. I remember back when I had to go through them. I had to use an old Gauss gun from the Aquanaut corps. I wish you best of luck in your training program. Remember that these guns are for training purposes, and as such, are loaded with blanks. Do not keep loaded with live ammo unless you are in school training.

-A well wisher.

This message was sponsored by the MEGAPOL corporation. MEGAPOL: Reliable, safe, effective! Unlike MARSEC.

Tali put the note aside, and took out the final bottom package. Attached to it was another note.

"Dear Tali

I wish you luck in the Terran school system. I will be working on building us a house on Rannoch, just like I promised. However, it has come to my attention that the policy in the Terran school system is 'bring your own gun'. As such, I managed to buy some high tech MARSEC laser weaponry just for you. I wish you all the best in your endeavors. These are special 'training' lasers, that will not inflict fatal wounds.

Rael.

P.S. Don't use that MEGAPOL crap. Mass effect based weapons are overrated.*

*This P.S. was sponsored by MARSEC corporation. MARSEC: We have your back, unlike MEGAPOL!

Tali put that letter down, and opened the second package. Inside was a human laser pistol, and a laser shotgun. She was torn, deciding which one to use. She went to sleep on it, as the sun was already going down.

* * *

The next day, Tali woke to an orange sunrise. She went to make herself something to eat. Being a quarian, she had to be self-sufficient at a young age, due to everyone being too busy to coddle you. She opened the refrigeration unit, and saw a bunch of unknown foods inside. She spotted a strange fruit, and decided to try it. The 'Nutrivend Omni-Nutritious Super Fruit' as the labeling named it, tasted just like Quarian nutrient paste. Bland and disgusting, with obvious artificial flavoring added to unsuccessfully make it taste better. She barely finished it. Then, she went upstairs, wanting to see what entertainment vids the humans watched. Turning on the TV, she was immediately hit with loud music.

'My Little Chryssalid, My Little Chryssalid..." It went. Tali began to watch the strange show. It detailed the adventures of a group of strange alien insects and their human handlers as they joined XCOM and helped defend earth from a variety of very scary aliens. Of course, the show didn't skimp on the gore, and Tali soon found herself covering her eyes whenever a chryssalid eviscerated an alien, or when an alien killed an XCOM agent.

'How can this be considered fun?' Tali asked herself, as she covered her eyes, only hearing the mauling sounds of a Chryssalid attack. Mercifully, the episode eventually ended, leaving a horrified Tali sitting there, staring at the ending credits. She breathed deeply several times, before turning off the vid screen, and walked up to the personal computer in her room. Turning it on, she looked up human games. The computer came with several pre-installed ones. One was an action shooter, Call of Duty: XCOM 14, which she just didn't like. The second was XCOM: Enemy Unknown, 2152 remake. Tali tried it out, and played its 'Classic' campaign. Her first battle ended with all but one soldier massacred by alien fire within two turns, her last soldier bravely killing off all opposition.

Tali continued playing for a considerable amount of time, before she looked out the window. The sun had rose to almost noon height. Tali saved her game and closed the terminal. She went down to make herself some lunch. For some reason, she didn't want to try the 'Evonet Recycled Nutritional Paste, now 100% recycled bio-waste', or eat another Omnifruit. Eventually, she tried to make herself some of the strange dish 'Pasta'. She ended up with a pot of half water mush, which she ate anyway. It was disgusting. She decided to try out the new weapons she got the previous day, setting up the target holo on one end of the room.

'How hard can it be?' She asked herself as the took out the Lawpistol.

She soon found out that it was very hard indeed. The pistol turned out to be fully automatic, and packed a serious recoil. After emptying two clips of target paint, she had scored a whopping two hits on the holo target, and the disappearing target paint stained the walls. Even worse, someone in production had messed up, and forgot to add in enough disappearing agent into the paint, making it slowly go away over the course of a few days, rather than hours.

Tali was practicing with her laser pistol (which thankfully was much easier to use) when the doorbell rang. Tali walked over, and opened the door.

"Miss Zorah? Your companions' gene modification has been completed suc... sess... fully..." The human trailed off as she saw the target paint staining the walls in the entrance hallway.

"Ok, then lets go!" Tali said, oblivious to the human's shock, as the human attempted to comprehend how any person's aim could be that bad.

* * *

At the laboratory, Tali met her companions. The two of them looked nervous, as if they would catch some deadly disease at a moment's notice. Tali led them back to the skycar, and talked with them on her way home.

"The apartment is awesome! We get our own beds, and a vidscreen, and a personal terminal, and so much more!" She babbled constantly. Kal and Lia just sat there, nodding their heads. Eventually, the car arrived, and Kal and Lia beheld the yellow splattered hallway that was the result of Tali's practice with a Lawpistol. In the middle of the hallway was a small package for 'Mr. Kal'Reegar.' with a stamp on it saying 'Approved by MARSEC corporation.'

Kal opened it, and took out... something. It had a long tube, with a bulbous front end, and a thick grip. Kal, however, seemed very excited by it, and loaded a piece of practice ammo into it. As Tali and Lia took cover, he fired. "YES!" Kal screamed, as the rocket covered the far wall with yellow paint. Tali gave Lia her MEGAPOL weapons, due to her inability to use them effectively. Tali was in the middle of a target practice session with Lia, when the dreaded sound, 'My Little Chryssalid, My Little Chryssalid..." came blasting out of the vidscreen room. Tali groaned, the song bringing back bad memories, while Kal'Reegar cheered in the background.

* * *

By the end of the day, Tali just wanted to go to sleep. Reegar had been watching the human show for several hours, and seemed entranced by it. Lia finally dragged him away from the vidscreen, shutting it off, just so she and Tali could sleep without the sound of weapons fire and evisceration waking them up every few minutes. Then, they learned something else about Kal. He snored. Loudly.

Tali finally fell asleep, thinking of what tomorrow would bring, as tomorrow was the day school started.

* * *

**A/N: Here you go. The side story to When Civilizations Meet. Its not to be read as a stand-alone story. If you think this is silly, then you are correct. This side story has no real impact on Civilizations' story line. Will likely not be updated as frequently as the main story. Enjoy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- First Day Part 1**

Tali woke up, and immediately wondered where she was. For a fraction of a second, she thought she had been kidnapped, and screamed. The scream woke Lia and Kal up. Tali grinned sheepishly at them. The position of their cilia told her that they were not amused.

A Quarian's Cilia were what others frequently mistook for hair. Cilia were much thicker than hair, although thin enough to be mistaken for it at first glance. They were bioluminescent and prehensile, as the Quarians' predatory ancestors used them for communication with their pack mates. Now, they were just as much a part of Quarian emotional indicators as facial expressions. A Quarian's face had a strikingly similar structure to that of humans, with two eyes, a rounded nose, and a small, asari-like mouth. However, several small ridges were present on their foreheads. These were acute photoreceptors, allowing for a Quarian to have warning of any lifeform attempting to sneak up on them in their sleep. Small glands on the sides of their faces produced scent masking pheromones, allowing the Quarians' ancestors to be virtually undetectable by smell, an extremely advantageous trait. Quarian skin color varied greatly, in different shades of red. Tali's was a light maroon, Kal had a darker red, while Lia was almost grey. All quarians still retained retractable claws from their predatory days. Their teeth were much sharper than those of standard humans, although Oral Offensive Implant gene mods bridged that gap.

Tali stood up, and went downstairs, picking up her laser pistols along the way. She opened the fridge, and was greeted with the same three choices. Nutrivend Omnifruit, Evonet Recycled Nutrients, and making her own food. She chose the third option, attempting to make scrambled eggs, as the humans called them. She ended up with a strange, black, charred mixture. She shared it with Lia and Kal, who both agreed that she be banned from cooking duty. Then, they packed their school supplies, holstered their weapons (or in Kal's case, simply slung them over his shoulder) and left the apartment. Getting into the human skycar, they were asked to specify a destination.

"Mindoir Elementary." Tali said, before the TRANSTELLAR skycar flew out into the sky. Several minutes later, they landed.

The three Quarians exited their skycar, which promptly took off, and walked to the school. It was a tall, utilitarian building, little more than a functional cube. However, built into it were various balconies and plant galleries, which added some sort of strange beauty to the building. Tali looked around. All the students coming in were Muton or Human, with a few Aiva mixed in. However, Tali spotted a pair of familiar turians in the crowd. She ran over to them, and said her greetings, leaving Reegar and Lia behind.

* * *

Garrus carried the human made MARSEC Laser sniper rifle proudly. It was an amazing weapon, even better than the M98 Widow, his previous favorite gun. He had practiced with it at his parents' house, and loved its accuracy. His sister, Solana, was not an accuracy person. To put it simply, she liked brute force, hence the oversized MEGAPOL Autocannon, looking comical next to her tiny frame.

"GARRUS!" He heard a familiar voice shout, although he didn't know who it was. He turned towards its source and saw a familiar Quarian girl running towards him.

"Hey there Garrus! I never really got to introduce myself when we met, but I'm Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Its good to see you again!" The Quarian blurted out.

"Tali *pant pant* wait up!" A pair of Quarians ran up. One carrier a pair of MEGAPOL weapons, the other... had a rocket launcher. He saw his sister's eyes grow wide at the sight of it.

"Hello Tali. Its good to finally know your name." Garrus said.

The group made their way into the human school, Garrus and Tali talking spiritedly, while Solana kept casting envious glances at Reegar's rocket launcher.

* * *

**Psionics Class- Psi Gym**

Tali watched as their Ethereal instructor helped yet another human with his psionics. The boy was an A-Psi, so he lacked the power of the K and C Psis in the room. However, they all fought for a position near him, due to the amplification field he generated.

Tali attempted to use her own psionics, but once again got nothing. Reegar, meanwhile, was engaged in a fierce psionic arm wrestling match with a human boy, and actually seemed to be winning. Then, the boy glowed brighter as an A-Psi stumbled a little too close, and easily overpowered Kal.

Lia was attempting to create a psionic illusion, due to her being a C-Psi. Trying was the key word. So far, she had managed to make a patch of wall change color several times, and would have been happy, if she wasn't actually trying to make herself look different.

"Tali? Are you having trouble?" The Ethereal asked.

"Yes. I can't seem to get these abilities to work!" She said, angrily. "I can't even get a one pound weight to move!" She said, before gesturing to a pair of human children who were lifting twenty pound weights with ease.

"Have you tried communication?" The Ethereal asked.

"Yes! The only emotion I can sense is my frustration!"

"Ah. This is the sign of an M-Psi. You are capable of utilizing both K and C psionic abilities with equal efficiency, and thus find it harder to pick one. Try using both at the same time. Its easier, for a new student such as yourself.

"What do you mean?"

"Try sensing emotions, while lifting weights at the same time. It will let you do both at the same time, and find a distinction between the two."

Tali tried that, and soon enough had put her first weight through the ceiling. There were a fair bit of craters in the room's roof, hence the armor plating layer. Said layer was dented in multiple places, and even had a few puncture points from the stronger students.

She continued to experiment with psionics, finally discovering the difference between C and K psionics. She had also found out that Lia was extremely ticklish, doubly so for Psionics. Kal, meanwhile, had begun target practice, firing weights across the room. Each one slammed somewhere in the general vicinity of the target, although none hit the mark.

A loud shattering noise turned heads. A human boy sheepishly hung his head next to a broken window, having put a 10 pound weight through it. The Ethereal sighed, and called in a cleanup crew.

Finally, the bell rang, and the students ran off to their next classes.

* * *

**Firearms Training- Shooting range**

Tali sighed as she watched Garrus make yet another perfect shot on their training dummy. It was Tali's turn next. Switching the pistol to '2 second pulse' she fired. The crimson beam grazed the target. She groaned. This MARSEC junk couldn't even shoot straight!

"Something is wrong with that gun. Mind if I take a look?" Garrus asked.

"Sure. Go ahead." Tali answered.

"Ah. The main targeting lens is miscalibrated. Thankfully, I'm a professional calibrator!" Garrus said, striking a pose.

"Just fix it, will you?" Tali said, as she watched Reegar fire yet another rocket, scoring a direct hit.

Garrus began working, before the distinctive rattle of an autocannon startled him, and caused him to shoot himself in the face. Thankfully, training weapons were harmless.

Finally, the pistol was done. Tali tried it, and fired a 5 shot burst, intending to get one in each kneecap, one in the heart, and two on the head. The result was one on the crotch, and four misses.

"I fixed the pistol, you'll have to fix your skill!" Garrus crowed, before landing yet another perfect headshot.

"Bosh'tet." Tali muttered. She heard her father use the word to describe admiral Xen, although she didn't know the meaning.

Her next volley hit true- on the neighboring target dummy, scoring three perfect headshots.

"Sorry, doesn't count!" Garrus said.

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!" The two continued to argue, shooting as they did so.

* * *

**A/N: Part 2 will be out eventually. No fixed date or update schedule for this story just yet. Enjoy.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3- First Day Part 2**

* * *

**Close Combat Training**

Tali walked into the hand to hand training room, trying hard to stay awake. While shooting and psionics were both fun, math and history were Booooorriiinnngg! The room she found herself in was an open square, with a hard mat covering the floor. Several swords were displayed on the far wall, while a rack of knives stood on top of a storage unit. The class slowly filtered in, the students in various states of boredom. As soon as they were all in, the door closed, and a VERY loud voice screamed "ATTENTION!"

Every single student stopped in their tracks and looked around.

"I SAID ATTENTION MAGGOTS!" Came the voice again. A MASSIVE human decloaked in front of them, deactivating his mimetic skin. The students quickly formed neat ranks, facing the instructor.

"Too slow, DROP FOR TWENTY!" Said the instructor, and every single student in the room promptly fell down into a pushup position, and did twenty, before getting up again.

"Too slow, Twenty more!" The instructor said. The students obediently complied, springing up when they were done.

"Some of you may be thinking to yourselves: Hey, this isn't boot camp! Well, let me tell you, this is NOTHING compared to basic training! Each and every one of you here is a person, be they Human, Muton, Aiva, Turian or... whatever the hell you are!" He said, pointing at Tali. "After you are done with this class, you won't be people anymore! My job is to turn you into weapons! Living, thinking, deadly weapons! In here, you will learn to use your Gene mods for something other than pulling pranks. Here, you will learn how to use those sorry excuses for limbs for something other than jacking off!" The vocabulary soared over the students' heads. "At the end of this year, if you aren't able to kill me in at least twenty two different ways, YOU FAIL!" He screamed. "NOW, PICK A PARTNER AND FACE HIM!" He screamed. Tali turned left, only to see Reegar going off with Solana. She turned right, and saw Lia walking away with a human boy. She felt a hand tap her back. She turned towards the source and nearly fainted. There, standing not two feet behind her, was the biggest muton that she had ever seen.

"You're my partner." He said. Tali looked around. Everyone was paired up already. Gulping, she nodded acceptance.

"WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? THIS IS CLOSE COMBAT TRAINING!" Shouted the instructor.

The room exploded into a mess of fighting aliens. Tali felt herself be picked up and tossed a good six yards by the hulking mass of muscle that was the Muton. Landing hard, she felt the wind fly out of her, leaving her breathless.

"Get up and fight, little baby!" The muton screamed. Tali tried, but before she was back up, she was on the floor again, the muton in question having delivered a devastating punch to her chest.

"Fight me, you tiny teeny little baby!" Came the muton's voice, as he ran in to floor her once more. Tali squeezed her eyes shut, kicking blindly. She felt her foot impact flesh, and she heard the Muton scream.

"AAARRGGHH! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!" he screamed. Tali looked up to see him bent over, her foot having slammed into its crotch. Jumping to her feet, Tali attempted to follow up with several more punches, only for her fist to be grabbed in midair.

"Now is coward killing time!" He said, voice radiating malice. Tossing Tali across the room, he bull rushed towards her. Tali barely jumped out of the way, causing the muton to slam into the wall at her back. Running to the nearest wall, Tali paused, just as the muton screamed once more.

"You cannot hide, coward!" The muton charged again. Tali dove out of the way, causing her opponent to slam into the wall where she used to stand. Anything remotely resembling rational thought drained out of the muton, throwing him into a berserker rage. He roared in anger as he charged Tali, slamming aside several students in his way. Tali dove out of the way, causing the raging muton to slam into the wall length mirror that was conveniently placed behind her. A spiderweb of cracks formed where Tali's partner slammed into the glass. Turning around, the alien roared once more. He sprinted towards Tali, who stuck her foot out, causing him to trip. The force of the Muton slamming into her foot sent her sprawling, but it did the trick. The muton slammed headfirst into the wall, knocked out cold. Tali walked out of the room covered in bruises, but with her head held high. Lia walked up beside her.

"So what's next?" She asked. Tali looked at her. Her left eye was swollen and black, and her nose probably did not look like that before class started.

"Yeah, what do we have next?" Kal said, his face having several claw marks, and were those BITE marks on his neck?

"Science. I heard that Mr. Lisek is pretty good." Tali answered.

The trio of Quarians went on to the next class.

* * *

**Science Room**

"... So through this, I have concluded that lectures are not as effective at imparting information as some more conservative educators believe. Students learn best when they are engaged in the subject with hands-on activities, rather than in a dusty old classroom with some boring old nutcase speaking to them." The science teacher said. "Since this class is a multi-year course, it will progress in the following manner. Rather than assigning you 'Worksheets' and 'homework', which are, in my humble opinion, antiquated relics of the past, suitable only for display in museums, you will be given a list of projects. Said projects are funded by major corporations such as MARSEC, MEGAPOL, and TRANSTELLAR, which will use your research (providing you with ample compensation, of course) in the design of their latest products. Pick up your datapads and check your inbox. You should have received a list of possible projects for you to do. The more of them you complete by the end of the fifth grade, the higher your grade in this class will be. Get into groups of... just get into some random groups of your friends, who am I to enforce social regulations? The lab and engineering workshops are all yours!" Mr. Lisek walked out of the room, leaving the class silent.

Tali looked at the list of projects and almost did a double take.

"HOW ARE WE EXPECTED TO DO ANY OF THESE?" She screamed.

"What's the matter?" The human boy sitting next to her asked.

"THEY WANT US TO DEVELOP LASER CANNONS AND BIOWEAPONS! WE HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN TAUGHT BASIC ALGEBRA!" Tali screamed.

"So we throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. Lets get to work." The boy said.

Tali sighed, hopeless, and called over Kal'Reegar and Lia'Vael. They came, with Solana and Garrus in tow.

"So we're a team?" The boy asked.

"Looks like it." Garrus answered.

"Then lets introduce ourselves. I'm Solana, Solana Vakarian." Solana said.

"Garrus Vakarian here."

"Kal'Reegar, demolitions expert."

"Lia'Vael."

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Shepard. John Shepard." The boy said, concluding the introductions.

Almost immediately, the group hit its first snag.

"No, we're building more accurate laser guns and that is FINAL!" Garrus said.

"Explosives or nothing!" Reegar screamed in reply.

"I still think that we should try to work with gene mods." Shepard said, the looks of the rest of his teammates screaming 'NO, just NO!' at him when he suggested it.

Eventually, they had decided that they would work on laser weaponry, albeit in an attempt to use biomatter to add in explosive capability. Once they finally decided that, the bell rang, signalling the end of school.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4- Sleepover**

* * *

Tali sat on the couch of the apartment's living room. Shepard was on one side of her, sitting against an armrest, personal laptop on his lap, while Garrus was on the other side of the room, sitting in a smaller chair. They had been friends for several days now, and had decided to have a sleepover at the Quarians' apartment. They were currently playing XCOM: Defender, a multiplayer RTS. Kal and Solana were upstairs, watching 'My Little Chryssalid', the sounds of music and evisceration echoing down the hall. Thankfully, they were suddenly drowned out by the sound of plasma rifle fire. Unfortunately, said plasma rifles were positioned perfectly to wipe out Tali's squad of Anthropods.

"Come on Garrus, Plasma snipers are so OP!" She said as she worked on spawning in additional squad of troops, this time including Skeletoids. The siren of a tactical nuke launch suddenly blared in her headphones. She watched the minimap explode, the bomb centered on the turian's base of operations.

"SHEPARD!" Garrus screamed, as the sound of a second nuclear launch blared out, this time heading for the turians' troop staging point.

"How do you launch so many nukes?" Tali asked.

"Mega Silo upgrade. 3 nukes can be launched before you need to reload." Shepard replied over the sound of a third nuclear launch, this one aimed at Tali's own base of operations. She quickly activated her teleporter units, evacuating the base until nothing but deserted structures remained. Shepard's nuke set her back a few credits, but didn't do much more than that. Her Queenspawn quickly got to work, producing hundreds of eggs, from which many multiworms spawned. She sent them on a quick run to Garrus' base, nabbing a few mutons and a Sectoid commander. The worms split into smaller hyperworms and rushed the unprepared troops, tearing them apart. Tali sent them back to base, where she quickly morphed them into Chrysalis. 20 seconds later, they hatched, creating a mix of Skeletoid, Anthropod, Spitter, and a few Psimorphs. Tali continued raiding Garrus' base, before suddenly she was distracted by a VERY loud evisceration from upstairs.

**Come on Kal! Turn the volume down!**

She said over a psionic comm. The quarian upstairs obliged. Tali then looked down, only to find that her latest batch of multiworms were all gone. Then, there was the sound of several nuclear launches. Tali counted one, two, four, nine, eighteen nukes headed her way, carpet bombing everything within teleport range of her base. "SHEPARD!" She screamed as her base was wiped out by a massive burst of nuclear detonations.

GAME OVER scrolled across her screen. Looking at the human beside her, her cilia raised, glowing a light red in annoyance. The human boy gave her a cheeky grin, before launching three MORE nukes at Garrus. Tali stood up and looked at his screen. He currently owned 22 mega silos, most of them stuck in reloading sequences. A series of dings told him that some of them had finished, and the nukes were launched several seconds later. A blue 'VICTORY' screen showed as Garrus' base and forces were destroyed. The three players stood up, as did Lia'Vael, who was watching the match with a bored expression, having been knocked out early in the match. "What do we do now? Shepard's obviously got us beat here, what's the point in playing?" She asked.

"We could always join Kal and Sol up there." Garrus said, gesturing at the stairs.

"And watch My Little Chryssalid? No thank you!" Tali replied.

"Well, there is one thing. We do have those training guns, right?" Shepard suggested.

Several minutes later, Tali and Shepard were pinned down behind a couch, Garrus and Lia taking potshots at them. The loud DAKKADAKKADAKKA of Lawpistol fire combined with the loud PEW PEW of laser sniper fire, making sure that they stayed put. Suddenly, the loud SHOOMF of a rocket launcher sounded out from the room upstairs. My Little Chryssalid had ended, and Kal'Reegar had come. The light from the TV upstairs created a halo of light around his quarian frame, while the angelic choir of end credit music set the perfect background. Then, the loud rumble of autocannon fire ruined the moment as Solana got out her own gun. This, however, was all that team Shepard needed, as they quickly vaulted over the couch, firing away at Team Garrus. The turian and his Quarian partner had to get behind some cover, or risk getting demolished by the three way firefight that was now taking place. Garrus got off a lucky shot against Kal'Reegar, hitting him in the head as he bent to retrieve another rocket. Solana returned the favor by laying down a barrage of suppressing fire while Reegar got back up, having stumbled when the laser hit him. Shepard opened up with his own gun, a MEGAPOL Minilauncher, laying down a barrage of training grenades at Team Reegar. The loud POOMF POOMF POOMF of training grenades going off filled the apartment, ending only when Shepard ran out of ammo. Then, Garrus dropped him with a well placed headshot, Tali replying with a burst from her laser pistol, instead hitting Lia square in the head. Unfazed by this miss, Tali took out her scatter laser and fired, hitting Garrus with a full spread.

This firefight continued for several hours, before six exhausted children of various species finally had enough. They were currently plopped down on the floor, the Quarians on the beds, the rest in SYNTHEMESH S-9000 Padded Fabric Sleeping Receptacles, child sized.

"So Shepard, when are your parents picking you up?" Garrus asked.

"They aren't. Mom's serving on one of our battleships, while Dad's off on some backwater colony, coordinating development. I live here on my own." Shepard replied.

"Its amazing, isn't it, how us children are able to live on our own at such a young age." Lia said.

"Yeah, I know. Back in the Hierarchy, this kind of arrangement would have brought charges of criminal neglect, but here its normal!" Solana said.

"Yeah, we're drilled in self-sufficient living from almost as soon as we could comprehend the concept. The average 5 year old can cook his own food, and can order supplies from the various government funded childcare corps out there." Shepard remarked. "Its amazing what psionic education does for us as infants. We learn not to put plasma batteries in our mouths before we even know what plasma batteries are. Most of us are already pretty well educated by the time we get to school, thanks to psionic education from our parents."

"Hmmm." Tali said, as she snuggled deeper into her pillow, trying to sleep over the sound of conversation.

"Even us Turians know better than to hand someone our age a Rocket Launcher, but thanks to psionics, you guys have that all figured out." Solana said.

"Or a grenade minigun, or a shotgun, or a laser cannon." Shepard continued.

"Yup. Now we're running professional R&amp;D labs down in kindergarten, and we're getting paid in corporate money to do research that they can't do." Lia said.

"Mmmmh." Tali said, attempting to drown out the conversation with her pillow.

"I mean they're just handing us stuff they don't know the answer to, and hoping something works. It's a fact that children are better lateral thinkers than adults, and we can think of twenty possible, if less probable, solutions where they can think of five. In addition, we get paid to do this, so when we get out of grade school, we have a suitable financial cushion, provided that we do well at said R&amp;D." Shepard added.

"Yeah. It makes a lot of sense come to think of it." Reegar said.

"HMMM!" Tali said, trying to give away the fact that she was trying to sleep. She would not succeed in doing so for another hour.

* * *

**A/N: Here you guys go. Due to internet issues, I lost 2k words of the latest 'When Civilizations Meet' chapter that was set for release today. Instead, it will hopefully be released some time over the weekend. Also, I have started work on a FictionPress story called Twelve Dragons, which is a SciFi/Fantasy thing, slated for timeline release tomorrow, once the 12 hour block thing wears off. Enjoy!**


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